Hi,
I am new to open agriculture and food computers, but am quite interested. I have the opportunity to work with a small group of 25 or so highest-end, mixed grade middle school students for a short period of time several days per week. We are STEAM focused. I am interested in taking a closer look at what you are doing here for possible implementation in our program. Have much to learn, but am curious if there is listing of parts that can be 3D printed at school.
Thank you for making this exciting project accessible.

I learned about OpenAG through @Webb.Peter and am working on incorporating food computers into a local private school in Jefferson City, MO. The idea is to have a two semester class beginning fall 2017, with the first semester focused on the build and the second semester focused on chemistry. We are just beginning the planning process, but I will continue to post on here.

If anyone has any tips or information for the best way to structure one of these classes, I would love to get in contact with you. I’m specifically looking for how people mesh food computers with their existing curriculum. The school is unique in that it is a University Model School. It meets three days a week, and the students spend two days a week at home with work. I’m excited to begin work on this project, and would love any input!

Hi, I am very interested in applying this technology here in Pueblo, CO and being a part of the beta testing and documentation that will make urban farming an increasingly viable choice for future generations! Dr. Kelly

We are thrilled to hear that you and your middle schoolers are interested in getting involved with food computing. OpenAg is not currently using 3D printing in manufacturing our components, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t somebody in the community that is giving it a go.

If you are interested in building a Personal Food Computer with your class, the wiki is a great place to start - http://wiki.openag.media.mit.edu/. The wiki also has links to the bill of materials (BOM), CAD files, and documentation on GitHub to help you on your way to building a PFC.

Great to hear that you are working with our friend, @Webb.Peter. I would also love to hear about how teachers are incorporating PFCs into their curriculum.

A group of teachers will be starting to build PFCs with their students in the upcoming weeks and then implementing a PFC-centered lesson plan. You may find them to be a helpful resource. I’m sure that they would love to connect with you once they begin their food computing journeys

Cooper Hewitt is hosting a National High School Design Competition: Good For All. The design challenge is WHAT WOULD YOU DESIGN TO IMPROVE A COMMUNITY’S ACCESS TO HEALTHY, FRESH FOODS? According to the site, the competition is open to high school students ages 13-19 years old anywhere in the United States.

This could be a great opportunity for the teen #nerdfarmers out there!

We decided to build 3 tamed-down versions of the Food Computer that OpenAg used for their National Geographic student activity (posted in the github file) since the 2.0 documentation wasn’t fully updated when we started the school quarter. We just finished up building these Food Computers (here’s a preview of what we’re doing! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkbwYrnbRbU&feature=youtu.be ), and we plan to compare the produce grown in these Food Computers with produce grown in a v1.0 Food Computer and produce grown in soil.

We’re also supplementing the Food Computer curriculum with learning about/coding with Raspberry Pi and Arduino, since our smaller Food Computers don’t use a Raspberry Pi.

@melanieshimano - That’s great! You have so many experimentation possibilities with three PFCs to work with! Please keep us posted with the results of your PFC v2(ish) vs PFC v1 vs Soil research. There are a lot of educators out there working on curricula for food computing. It would be great to be able to share lessons with each other. Maybe we can set up a place for this on the wiki?

So I am trying to find the build instructions for the Food computer. I found the code to program the computers on github but cant seem to find plans on building the container or the needed materials. Would someone be able to direct me to where these are found.
I teach computer science and principles of engineering and would like my engineering kids to build the container and my computer science kids to program it.

For those K-12 educators seeking funding to build a PFC in the classroom, the McCarthey Dressman Education Foundation offers “Academic Enrichment Grants designed to develop in-class and extra-curricular programs that improve student learning.” The deadline to apply is April 15th - good luck!

Additional funding opportunity: “The NEA Foundation provides NEA members with grants to improve the academic achievement of students in U.S. public schools and public higher education institutions in any subject area(s). The proposed work should engage students in critical thinking and problem solving that deepen their knowledge of standards-based subject matter. The work should also improve students’ habits of inquiry, self-directed learning, and critical reflection.”

“The American Honda Foundation engages in grant making that reflects the basic tenets, beliefs and philosophies of Honda companies, which are characterized by the following qualities: imaginative, creative, youthful, forward-thinking, scientific, humanistic and innovative. We support youth education with a specific focus on the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in addition to the environment.” - http://www.honda.com/community/applying-for-a-grant

“The annual NSTA Awards and Recognition Program recognizes exceptional and innovative science educators. The NSTA Awards and Recognition were created in 1973 to raise awareness and exposure of the outstanding work being done in the science education field.” - http://www.nsta.org/about/awards.aspx

“DonorsChoose.org makes it easy for anyone to help a classroom in need. Public school teachers from every corner of America create classroom project requests, and you can give any amount to the project that inspires you.” - https://www.donorschoose.org/

Hi! I’ve just finished up our pilot Food Computer Biotechnology class at a high school in West Baltimore where we built three Foam Farm Activity PFCs to learn how to combine old tech (agriculture) and new tech (computers) to solve local food system issues (i.e. food deserts, food insecurity, etc.). While 2/3 PFCs grew lettuce and swiss chard nicely, our third PFC with spinach never really took off—all of the seedlings died within a week of us trying to replant them. Additionally, some parts of…

Has anyone built these in classrooms, or is everyone focusing on the v2PFCs?

With our first graders, we worked with a robot called Bee-Bot that teaches very simple computer programming for kids as young as 4. It didn’t feel like technology for technology’s sake because the kids were already learning about bees and pollination; we just added sequential thinking and measuring skills to the mix.

I am working with an organization around funding the computers so that some of our high schools can build them. The site has gotten very dense with information and a variety of topics. Is there some basic space I can go to, to get all of the basic information (like building the chassis)? We are in Washington State and would to get this program started soon! I love what Juliana did and would love to connect to gain from her experience!